Archive for
November 19th, 2017

David Lee had an excellent NBA career. A fun player to watch. Athletic. And big for us is, he cut without the ball, like you’re supposed to do in basketball. He could have kept playing, but apparently felt now was a good time in life to call it a career. Here’s the New York Post reporting:

The former two-time All-Star, Knicks first-round pick and Warriors world champion announced his retirement on Sunday with an Instagram post, saying his 12 seasons in the NBA were over.

“An epic night celebrating my retirement with my friends and family!” the 34-year-old wrote with pictures of the display and his group of revelers. “Thank you to my amazing fiancée [Caroline Wozniacki] for planning the surprise!”

The Celtics are on a huge roll lately, winning 15 games in a row. Yet things can get even better. Here’s the Boston Herald reporting on guard Marcus Smart, whose shot has been missing in a big way lately:

The Celtics guard still tends to hit his biggest shots late, like his put-back for a 103-95 lead in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win in Atlanta, and continues to make game-changing plays that have nothing to do with shooting the ball.

But Smart is admittedly bothered by his recent shooting drought. Including Saturday’s 3-for-8 performance, the Celtics guard has shot 13-for-60 (.216) over his last six games, and 27.3 percent both overall and from 3-point range this season.

“It does affect you, especially if you’ve been working all summer,” said Smart, who spent time working out with Chauncey Billups in Denver this summer. “At the same time, I don’t take as many shots. We got other guys out here, they’re playing very well, so my job is to get them the basketball and do whatever I can, go back down the court and play defense and get involved in the game.”

Chris Paul recently returned to action for the Rockets. That’s big news. And it obviously affects the rotation. Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting:

With the Rockets at full strength for the first time since the season-opener, they began spreading the playing time across the rotation extended by one player with the return of Chris Paul.

Paul on Saturday was still limited to just 24 minutes. Luc Mbah a Moute, in his first game back after sitting out in Phoenix with an illness, played just 21 minutes, including the final minutes after the benches were cleared. But even Saturday, the Rockets got a taste of how things will change.

Only James Harden, who played 36 minutes, logged more than 30 minutes. His time will likely decrease once Paul is up to his usual playing time with Harden returning about two minutes earlier in the second and fourth quarters than he would have had Paul been cleared to play more.

Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz was examined and evaluated today by Dr. Ben Kibler, Medical Director of the Shoulder Center of Kentucky at the Lexington Clinic, for the soreness and scapular muscle imbalance that he has been experiencing in his right shoulder. The soreness is dissipating and the muscle balance is improving, and Fultz will continue with physiotherapy and begin progressing toward full basketball activities. Fultz will be re-evaluated in approximately two to three weeks. His return to gameplay will be determined by how the shoulder responds to progressive basketball training and practices in the interim.

Summer bball action will change a bit in 2018. The Orlando Magic won’t be holding their usual league, which means the already-dominant main NBA-run league in Vegas will presumably become even bigger. Here’s the Orlando Sentinel reporting:

The Orlando Magic will not hold their annual summer league in Orlando next year and will participate instead in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, team officials told the Orlando Sentinel.

The decision is a radical departure for the Magic, who ran and managed their own summer league in Central Florida 14 times since 2002…

Eight teams participated in the Orlando Pro Summer League this year and played five games apiece. In addition to the Magic, the other teams were the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder.